Dr Santosh Kumar B is a Scientist specializing in MD Pharmacology from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad and MBBS from Government Siddhartha Medical College, Vijayawada, under Dr NTR University of Health Sciences, Andhra Pradesh. He previously served as the Coordinator for the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Centre of the Pharmacovigilance Program of India, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India. Before joining ICMR-NIN in March 2016, he was an Associate Professor of Pharmacology.

At ICMR-NIN, he has been involved in National Health Research Projects (NHRP) on anaemia, childhood stunting, and non-communicable diseases, providing evidence that influences public health policies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was part of NIN's Rapid Response Team, working with state health authorities to ensure smooth distribution of testing kits. He also contributed to national serosurveys that shaped the country’s pandemic response and monitored adverse events following Covaxin immunization in Andhra Pradesh.

Dr Santosh has experience in preclinical regulatory toxicology studies, cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials. He excels in community engagement and sharing research outcomes with stakeholders. Beyond research and teaching, he has developed strong administrative skills, holding various committee positions at the institute. He has also contributed to organizations like Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX), playing a key role in capacity building for the Viksit Bharat 2047 initiative.

1. DM DY, Tata DT, Jobarteh ML, Ndolo RN, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Augustine LF, Manne M, Kulkarni B, Diop A, Tairou F, Diop CF. Monitoring the progress and impact of a multicountry, interdisciplinary research project on childhood stunting: the UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub MEL protocol. BMJ Paediatrics Open. 2024 Jul 20;8(Suppl 1).
2. Santosh Kumar Banjara, Challa SR, Augustine LF, Dasi T, Madhari R, Rao SF, Palika R, Pullakhandam R, Kalashikam RR, Kumar RN, Palepu DP. Eggs for Improving Nutrition, cognitive development and reducing linear growth retardation among Infants and young Children (ENRICH): protocol of an egg supplementation trial among children aged 9–18 months in Hyderabad, India. BMJ paediatrics open. 2024;8(Suppl 1).,
3. Mahajan H, Lieber J, Mallinson PA, Bhogadi S, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Kinra S, Kulkarni B. The higher dietary inflammation is associated with a higher burden of multimorbidty of cardio-metabolic and mental health disorders in an urbanizing community of southern India: A cross-sectional analysis for the APCAPS cohort. Human Nutrition & Metabolism. 2024 Feb 15:200254.
4. Augustine LF, Dasi T, Palika R, Kulkarni B, Pullakhandam R, Pasupuleti DT, Banjara SK. A Point-of-Care Method with Integrated Decision Support Tool to Estimate Anemia at Population Level. Journal of Visualized Experiments: Jove. 2024 Jan 19(203).
5. Archita Ningoo, Santosh Kumar B, Reactions of ASHAs to a Decision Support Tool to Support Population Level Distribution of Iron and Folic Acid Supplements, Indian Pediatrics, Volume 61__April 15, 2024
6. Jobarteh ML, Saxena DB, Kulkarni B, Shah K, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Shah PA, Memon F, Chilumula M, Palepu DP, Selvaraj K, Dasi T. Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and mitigation strategy during pregnancy on prenatal outcome, growth and development in early childhood in India: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper. BMJ Paediatrics Open. 2024;8(Suppl 1).
7. Dominguez-Salas P, Waddington HS, Grace D, Bosire C, Moodley A, Kulkarni B, Dasi T, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Kumar RN, Fahmida U, Htet MK. Understanding the role of household hygiene practices and foodborne disease risks in child stunting: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper. BMJ Paediatrics Open. 2024;8(Suppl 1).
8. Davies-Kershaw H, Fahmida U, Htet MK, Kulkarni B, Faye B, Yanti D, Shinta D, Zahra NL, Angelin TC, Madhari R, Pullakhandam R, Santosh Kumar Banjara. Anthropometric, biochemical, dietary, morbidity and well-being assessments in women and children in Indonesia, India and Senegal: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper. BMJ paediatrics open. 2024;8(Suppl 1).
9. Mahajan H, Mallinson PA, Lieber J, Bhogadi S, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Reddy VS, Reddy GB, Kulkarni B, Kinra S. The Association of Total Meat Intake with Cardio-Metabolic Disease Risk Factors and Measures of Sub-Clinical Atherosclerosis in an Urbanising Community of Southern India: A Cross-Sectional Analysis for the APCAPS Cohort. Nutrients. 2024 Mar 5;16(5):746.
10. Lieber J, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Mallinson PA, Mahajan H, Bhogadi S, Addanki S, Birk N, Song W, Shah AS, Kurmi O, Iyer G. Protocol: Burden, determinants, consequences and care of multimorbidity in rural and urbanising Telangana, India: protocol for a mixed-methods study within the APCAPS cohort. BMJ Open. 2023;13(11).
11. Ghosh S, Palika R, Dasi T, Varshney RK, Parasannanavar DJ, Sen Gupta S, Chitikineni A, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Pullakhandam R, Thomas T, Sachdev HS. Haemoglobin diagnostic cut-offs for anaemia in Indian women of reproductive age. European journal of clinical nutrition. 2023 Oct;77(10):966-71.
12. Chathyushya KB, Hemalatha R, Ananthan R, Devraj JP, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Alimelu M, Reddy P, Nitasha B. Macronutrient composition of term and preterm human milk of different socio economic groups. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids. 2023 May 1;192:102571.
13. Sagar P, Azeem A, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Veleri S. The role of food chain in antimicrobial resistance spread and One Health approach to reduce risks. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 2023 Feb 24:110148.
14. Palika R, Dasi T, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Pullakhandam R, Kulkarni B. Anaemia and iron nutrition in India: insights from recent research studies. NFI Bulletin (2023): 1-12.
15. Mamidi RS, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Manchala S, Babu CK, Geddam JB, Boiroju NK, Varanasi B, Neeraja G, Reddy GV, Ramalakshmi BA, Hemalatha R. Maternal Nutrition, Body Composition and Gestational Weight Gain on Low Birth Weight and Small for Gestational Age—A Cohort Study in an Indian Urban Slum. Children. 2022 Sep 23;9(10):1460.
16. Avula R, Nguyen PH, Ashok S, Bajaj S, Kachwaha S, Pant A, Walia M, Singh A, Paul A, Singh A, Kulkarni B, Santosh Kumar Banjara..., Disruptions, restorations and adaptations to health and nutrition service delivery in multiple states across India over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: an observational study. PLoS One. 2022 Jul 27;17(7):e0269674.
17. Kulkarni B, Augustine LF, Pullakhandam R, Pradhan AS, Dasi T, Palika R, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Sachdev HS. ‘Screen and Treat for Anaemia Reduction (STAR)’strategy: study protocol of a cluster randomised trial in rural Telangana, India. BMJ Open. 2021 Dec 1;11(12):e052238.
18. Parasannanavar D, Gaddam I, Bukya T, Santosh Kumar Banjara, Salvadi BP, Kumar N, Rao SF, Geddam JB, Rajkumar H. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and plasma fatty acids of school going Indian children-a cross-sectional study. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids. 2021 Jul 1; 170:102294.
19. Laxmaiah A, Rao NM, Arlappa N, Babu J, Kumar PU, Singh P, Sharma D, Anumalla VM, Kumar TS, Sabarinathan R, Kumar MS, B. Santosh Kumar. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in the city of Hyderabad, India in early 2021. IJID Regions. 2022 Mar 1;2:1-7.
20. Devraj JP, B. Santosh Kumar, Raja Sriswan M, Jagdish B, Priya BS, Neelu SB, Desai Rao V, Kumar M, Geddam JJ, Hemalatha R. Effect of yoganidra on blood pressure, Hs-CRP, and lipid profile of hypertensive subjects: A pilot study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2021 Dec 30;2021.
21. Chathyushya KB, JJ BG, Devaraj JP, Santosh Kumar B. A Scoping Review on the Impact of Nutrition and Counseling in the Prevention and Management of Cancer. The Indian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2021 May 18:274-88.
22. Murhekar MV, Bhatnagar T, Thangaraj JW, Saravanakumar V, Kumar MS, Selvaraju S, Rade K, Kumar CG, Sabarinathan R, Turuk A, Asthana S. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020–January 2021. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2021 Jul 1; 108:145-55. (Santosh Kumar Banjara -acknowledged in the paper).
23. Kumar M, Sarma DK, Shubham S, Kumawat M, Verma V, Nina PB, Jp D, Santosh Kumar, Singh B, Tiwari RR. Futuristic non-antibiotic therapies to combat antibiotic resistance: A review. Frontiers in microbiology. 2021 Jan 26; 12:609459.
24. Murhekar MV, Bhatnagar T, Selvaraju S, Saravanakumar V, Thangaraj JW, Shah N, Kumar MS, Rade K, Sabarinathan R, Asthana S, Balachandar R. SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in India, August–September, 2020: findings from the second nationwide household serosurvey. The Lancet Global Health. 2021 Mar 1;9(3):e257-66. (Santosh Kumar Banjara acknowledged in the paper).
25. Murhekar MV, Bhatnagar T, Selvaraju S, Rade K, Saravanakumar V, Thangaraj JW, Kumar MS, Shah N, Sabarinathan R, Turuk A, Anand PK. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in India: Findings from the national serosurvey, May-June 2020. The Indian journal of medical research. 2020 Jul;152(1-2):48. (B Santosh Kumar acknowledged in the paper).
26. Resu NR, Manju MS, Kondaveti S, SB Kumar. Nutraceuticals and Nutri vigilance–Present scenario in India. Int J Food Biosci. 2019;2(1):35-40.
27. Santosh B. Kumar, A. Rajanna and N. Balakrishna, Combined Anticonvulsant Effect of Nifedipine and Pentazocine in Experimentally Induced Convulsions by Electro Convulsometer in Mice and Rats, International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Kumar et al., IJPSR, 2020; Vol. 11(4): 1845-1849. E-ISSN: 0975-8232; P-ISSN: 2320-5148.